Blue - The Monster Child
by Purpleflyingpankakes64
Summary: After finding a lost girl on a cursed planet, The Doctor takes her to some old friends of his who happily adopt her. He revisits her in the future to find she's changed for the worst. Then the city is struck by a powerful force. A baby alien has run loose on Cardiff. Turns out UNIT have been keeping a secret down in the Snowdon base and they're not the only ones...


Blue – The Monster Child: Chapter 1

The Doctor stepped out of The TARDIS. Immediately an icy gust of wind tore at him from all sides in an attempt to penetrate through his coat, yet failing in the process. The Doctor examined his surroundings. He was almost blinded by darkness. Only just managing to perceive the shadows of large, grey trees that towered over him, outlined by the cold stare of the planet's red moon.

The Doctor could feel a strange sense of familiarity about this place, followed by the overwhelming feeling of discomfort. Behind him, a gentle whine erupted from The TARDIS. She didn't want to be here anymore than he did but The Doctor ignored her and began to edge forward. He dived into his pocket for his screwdriver, using its light to scan the area. He seemed to be in some kind of clearing. He stopped at a small gap between the trees where began a narrow stone path that disappeared into the shadows.

He wavered before continuing. Every vein in his body urged him not to go, but he had to know why he was here, what was leading him here. With a glance back at the TARDIS, he began to follow the path.

The path was long and tortuous. With each reluctant step, the compulsion to turn back grew stronger. Twisted thorn bushes snagged at his clothes like tiny claws, branches threatened to gouge his eyes out. Deeper and deeper into the shadows he ambled and bit by bit, the forest seemed to change from calmly eerie to vicious and deadly. The thorns of the bushes became as long as toothpicks, now digging into his skin. The trees above him gradually arched over the path creating a tunnel. It was as if the forest was toying with him, challenging his tolerance by seeing how much it could coerce him with.

Then The Doctor realized why this place was so repelling to him. This was the place he had been trying to avoid since he was a child. Since the shadows tried to take him. It would still haunt him in his dreams at times. A dream...maybe that's what it was, was he still dreaming? He could just wake up. But the voice would still be there, calling to him still left as another question – like most things in his life – unanswered.

The more the forest tried to push him away it seemed, the further he wanted to go. Fighting every instinct to turn back, he pressed on. Something was drawing him nearer and the answers also within grasp.

An azure light radiated from the end of the tunnel, leading to another clearing. As The Doctor neared it he noticed that it was being emitted from a thick mist that had gathered in the glade, it settled on his face making it glow a faint blue. The clearing was empty, not a soul in sight yet the voice he could hear more clearly than ever.

'Doctor!' It was a girl's voice, whispered gently almost as if not wanting to be heard. The Doctor peered through the mist, trying to locate the source but with no luck.

Then like steam wiped from glass, the mist started to clear revealing a young girl. She looked about seven or eight – in human years anyway. Weary, blue eyes peered at him through dark hair that flowed down towards her knees, a thin trail of lingering mist curled round her ankles like a snake.

'Hello there.' The Doctor smiled nervously. What was a little girl doing in a place like this? Was she the one who led him here? Maybe it was the forest playing tricks on him, it was notorious for its mind games.

'What are you doing here?' Her innocent-sounding voice was bitter and distrustful, her blue eyes turned silver from fatigue. But that was the question – What was he doing here? The voice he heard travelled through the time void and all the way to him. The first time he heard it, it was merely incoherent whispers. It vaguely sounded like sobbing, someone crying for help. Instinctively, he dropped everything and flew halfway across the universe to find this little girl. If anyone could give him the answer, it would be her.

The girl shuffled impatiently, 'I'll ask you again sir, what are you doing here?' There was something else in her voice this time, along with the bitterness. It was fear. The Doctor edged closer toward the girl, the bed of leaves beneath him crunched softly under his weight. He bent down to her level; he could see tears forming in her eyes.

'Hey don't cry.' He pulled her into a hug, 'I can help you, I'm The Doctor.' He felt her stiffen slightly before wriggling out of his arms. Her eyes met his, they lit up with the most radiant shades of blue. A look of anticipation spread on her face.

'Doctor,' she breathed, wiping her tears away, 'I remember you.' The Doctor frowned in confusion, of all the many people he had met over his life he had never seen this girl before.

'Remember me?' He questioned, 'Have we met?'

'Can you help me?' She asked, ignoring his question, 'I keep forgetting.'

'Forgetting?'

'I keep forgetting everything. My mom, my dad...you.' She sighed, 'I don't even know who I am anymore,' her tears started to return.

'Do you know why?' She shook her head. 'Well, what do you remember?'

'I don't know, I can't recall anything.' She lowered her head, a tear sliding down her cheek.

The Doctor cupped her head in his hands and stared deep into her eyes, 'Well try, Try and remember as much as you can.'

'It's all faded to a dream now,' her eyes drifted to focus on the distant moon, her mind worked to try and recall the images that had been flickering through her mind the past few days, 'I see my mum. She's dead. Then I see my dad, he's dragging me down a long passageway. He looks angry yet guilty and sad at the same time. He hands me a drink, I drink it and it ends there.' Her eyes returned focus on The Doctor, searching his face for some kind of explanation to what she'd said.

'Amnesia pill,' was all he said, 'must've been very strong to have to erase your entire life.' He tilted her head upwards and peered into her eyes. He could see into her mind, everything was a mess and most things a blur. He knew that he could stop the process because it wasn't complete yet, she could remember him. But it was different for each person. Memories could be triggered by certain images, sounds or phrases but he had no idea what she could associate with her past life.

'So? Can you fix it?' She stared into his eyes looking hopeful once more. 'Bring my memories back?'

The Doctor sighed. He couldn't disappoint her, she was counting on him. 'I don't know.' He muttered, standing up. 'How did you get here anyway?'

She shrugged, 'I just woke up here, and I don't know how I got here or how to escape. There's no way in or out.' Her eyebrows furrowed, 'How did you get here?'

The Doctor scratched the back of his head, trying to think of the simplest explanation. 'I-I've got this ship...thing, it gets me into places.'

'Can it get you out of places?' The young girl quizzed. Her eyes skimmed her surroundings nervously as if just remembering where she was.

'Yes.' He said, realizing what she was indicating.

'Can you get me out of here?' She stole another glance at the shadows. Her voice reduced to barely a whisper as if afraid the forest was listening, 'It's scary here. There's something moving in the darkness. Sometimes I hear whispering, lots and lots of voices. But not the sweet kind, it's the mean kind that happens when something wants to hurt you.'

As if it knew it was being talked about, the forest changed again. The wind picked up, biting at their bare skin and with it came the whispers. Like Sapphire had described it was a ghostly sound, though no words could be perceived The Doctor could tell that they were spiteful and venomous.

The Doctor felt the girl's trembling hand in his, a petite and delicate thing yet her grip was bone-crushing. Another howl came from the wind and the girl whimpered, hiding her face in his coat. The Doctor felt strong pity towards her and wrapped his arms around her fragile body. But the feeling was short lived and soon replaced by a raging surge of anger tearing through him, anger towards the man that brought her here. Stealing her memories – Stealing her life! Memories are what make us who we are, he knew that better than anyone. He couldn't begin to imagine what he would become if he lost his memories. But what angered him most was that he simply dumped her on some planet full of goodness knows what. Alone, confused and most of all frightened.

'_He must have had his reasons__**.**_' He told himself.

A mist had gathered once more around them. It curled around their faces before settling on them.

The girl stared up at him from beneath her black locks, 'Can we leave now? _Please_?' The blue glow that the mist gave off illuminated her eyes. They sparkled and glowed like sapphires, the most beautiful eyes The Doctor had ever seen – not the kind of eyes that he would expect to find on a human. That sent questions spiralling into his head about who this girl was – or what she was. Usually, he could identify any species especially the human-like ones and she definitely appeared human but he could feel that she wasn't. Something was missing.

However, somehow the sight of her innocent face lightened his mood and for the first time in what felt like forever, The Doctor smiled. He held out his hand to the girl which she took graciously, returning his smile with a cute, ill practiced grin of her own.

As they proceeded to wander back to the TARDIS, a question struck in The Doctor's head that for the entire time he didn't even consider.

'So, do you have a name?'

'Sapphire. Sapphire Elizabeth Paige.' She said. With that, she fell to the floor with the bed of leaves cushioning her fall. Her body lay lifeless on the ground. She had fainted.

As The Doctor scooped her up from the ground, he smiled to himself. '_Sapphire,' _he thought, '_matches her eyes.'_


End file.
